Tents have been used for centuries as temporary structures for camping trips. During these trips, on one hand, a camper usually desires to get away from the complications of city life, but there are generally competing desires for comfort on the other hand. The use of lightweight materials has made the satisfaction of these competing desires more easily accomplished. Tent fabrics, as well as tent poles and frame structures, can now be made to be very strong, while also very lightweight. This use of materials allows more imaginative and varied structures to be designed, which are still light enough to be easily portable, and thus practical for camping trips.
One of the most important aspects of comfort however, involves remaining dry. In an outdoors environment, there is generally no available source of heat other than a campfire. When it rains, even this source of heat may be difficult to maintain. Thus when a camper becomes wet, he is likely to remain so for a while. Body heat is more easily lost through wet garments, and there may be a very real danger of hypothermia in camping situations where clothing and sleeping bags have become wet, and no ready source of heat is available. Thus, a dry environment for camping is of primary importance for enjoying the camping experience, and even in preserving life in some situations.
Waterproof roof panels and rainflies are well-known components of camping tents, and these may do a good job of deflecting rain from the upper portion of the tent's interior living space. However, there remain problems with rain run-off and rain which may be wind-driven onto lower portions of the tent. Although these lower portions are also generally made of water repellant material, there may be problems with seepage through seams where panels are joined, or with floor panels through which water may filter, especially if there are areas of standing water which accumulate around the tent's lower portion.